History discussion questions one through seven

Introduction

Primary sources provide us a fly-on-the-wall glimpse of history in the making by those who witnessed that history.

For this Eyewitness to History discussion, please be sure to have read the assigned reading for this week. That reading that will give you the context or backstory to this source. That backstory will provide important clues to your understanding of this source. When I come to grade your work, I will look to see if you used 1.) the source itself and 2.) the assigned reading in your primary source analysis.

In this Week-15 Module you will find several primary sources. Look for them.

Please choose ONE of these primary sources and read it carefully. If you are reading carefully, each reading will reveal to you more than you saw before.

Then in light of your reading the primary source and drawing on it almost entirely, answer the questions in the Primary Source Question Set (below). Submit your answers by the deadline in your Initial Post. Then critically (questioningly) respond to the posts of your fellow students before the Response Post deadline.

The Primary Source Question Set

Here are the questions to be answered after you’ve carefully read and assessed the primary document you’ve chosen of those offered in this week’s module:

1. Identify and date your source. That is, who (or what) wrote or produced this source? How do you know? Find a separate, independent source to confirm the date. Give us the link to it.
2. What type of source is this — a primary or secondary source? What makes it one or the other — or both? Explain. Next, identify what type of source it is — a letter, speech, journal entry, article….and tell us why identifying the type of document might be important to historians.
3. Using your textbook, list three important events covered in our assigned work that occurred at about the same time that this source was created. Choose events that may have been influenced by, or influenced, the maker of the source. Date each event and tell us something about it. This question is about context.
4. In 250 words or more, summarize the key parts of the source — what is most vital to know if you were relating the content of the source to someone who hadn’t read it. Put your answer entirely in your own words. Quote nothing. In your summary, stick to the source, not its context, your view of the source, or what it makes you feel. Infer nothing in your summary, nor editorialize or philosophize or guess at the motives of the person who wrote the source. That is, see the source itself, all of it, and summarize only what you find there.
5. Using only this source and our assigned reading, who was the probable audience for this source? That is, to whom was this source aimed at? Using the source and its context, justify your answer. Give us more than your guess: back your guess with logic and the historical context. (Ask yourself: Why might knowing the target audience for source be important?)
6. You’ve sourced the source, dated it, contextualized it (a little). You’ve summarized it — we hope fairly, accurately. What questions might this source help us — as historians — answer about the past?
7. Finally, what is most memorable about this source for you – you personally? What stands out?